India, Sept. 8 -- Jannik Sinner was simply outplayed at times as he lost the US Open men's final to Carlos Alcaraz, relinquishing the world number one position and also seeing the Spaniard once again go two clear in terms of the number of grand slam titles won by these two great young rivals. It wasn't quite Sinner's day as he started a little slow and looked just a touch off his best, but it was largely a credit to Alcaraz finding an extra gear and determination through the middle portion of the match to win 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 in New York.

After Alcaraz accelerated and left Sinner in his dust, the Italian was realistic about his performance, and despite his incredible success over the last two years, was happy to entertain thoughts about b...